Join us for a riveting presentation from Open AIR's 2023 spring artists Aspen and Cameron Decker!
Meet in the Cooper Room, on the 4th floor at the Missoula Public Library.
Followed by refreshments and a chance to mingle and meet the artist. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is optional but appreciated!
Register here: https://form.jotform.com/230945289645165
Meet the artists:
Aspen Decker is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (T̓ata̓yáqn, Ql̓isp̓é & Ksanka) and a speaker of her tribal language, Nsélišcn ‘Salish language’. She graduated with a master’s degree in linguistics from the University of Montana and earned a bachelor’s degree in Tribal Historic Preservation from Salish Kootenai College. She has a Montana Class 7 Native American Language and Culture Educator License and has taught Salish for many years. Her passion for Salish language began as a child, learning from her elders, primarily, Patlik Pierre, who taught her about the importance of perpetuating Salish language and culture. Raising her children in the language as first language Salish speakers has been one of the ways that she honors their teachings. She was raised learning traditional Salish arts such as beadwork, regalia making, basket weaving which she still practices. She is also interested in and works with graphic arts incorporating Plains Ledger Art style and pictographic imagery to highlight important aspects of Salish culture.
Cameron Decker is Diné, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, and a descendant of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes. He is fascinated with printmaking, painting, drawing, digital art and public arts. He served as a faculty member at Salish Kootenai College in the Fine Arts department, serving as program Chair of the department for 4 years. Cameron recently worked at the Missoula Art Museum as an Educator and Outreach Coordinator. He holds an M.A. in Fine Arts in Integrated Arts in Education (The Creative Pulse program). He will have a painting featured in an upcoming exhibition Indigenous Identity: Here, Now & Always curated by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. The exhibit will start at the Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers University and then travel to three other venues between Sept. 2023 – 2025. The painting is titled Place dream, tʔe t čen nspsuppsm, and is painted with natural pigments that he processed into oil paints and also drawn with drawing charcoal he made. He is now co-owner of Xʷlxʷilt together with his partner Aspen Decker who is an enrolled member of CSKT and fluent speaker of Salish language. They focus on ways to support our Montana schools and institutions with authentic, appropriate, and engaging lessons about Indigenous values, contributions and innovations.